Opening Scene: A young woman is rushing to get to work. She is a schoolteacher. She
meets one of her friends and talks about being late to work. She gets to her
class and starts asking the children what they did over the weekend. All of
a sudden, she starts talking funny, and the children begin to laugh. She
starts to write on the blackboard for the kids to get the nurse, and then
she passes out. Another teacher rushes into the classroom.
At the hospital, Wilson is now going over the woman’s file with House.
Wilson tells House that the patient is his cousin. House is not interested
in the case, and he says it is a brain tumor, dismissing Wilson. Wilson
continues to try and interest House in the case. Wilson asks him what the
purpose is of having a team if he does not use them.
The patient is in the hospital, and we get a glimpse of what is perhaps
happening inside her. House looks over her test and starts discussing her
case with his team. Dr. Cameron informs Dr. Foreman that House believes all
patients lie. House starts ordering his team to do tests and to redo the
ones already done.
House is waiting at the elevator to go home when he sees Dr. Cuddy, Dean
of Medicine, approaching and tries to avoid her. She catches up to House and
ask why he was not in her office 20 minutes ago. He tells her he had no
intention of being there 20 minutes ago. She reminds him of his duties to
the hospital, and he deflects her with cop- out answers. She reminds him
that he is behind on clinic duty. Dr. Cuddy tells him she wants him to do
his job, part of which is clinic duty. He tells her that the great
philosopher Jagger once said, “You can’t always get what you want”.
The patient (Rebecca) is with the team, getting an MRI. She wants to
know where Dr. House is. They start one of the tests but have to stop
because they are denied authorization. House goes steaming-mad into Dr.
Cuddy’s office, demanding to know why she pulled his authorizations to run
tests. She asks why he is yelling and if that is supposed to scare her or
hurt her. She tells House that she looked up his “philosopher” Jagger, and
that while it’s true “You can’t always get what you want”, “if you try
sometimes, you get what you need”.
House leaves her office and tells the team to do the MRI, since Dr. Cuddy
backed down. However, he tells Wilson that now he is stuck catching up on
his clinic duty hours till the year 2054. House tells Wilson that he’d
better love this cousin a whole lot.
Now Rebecca is getting the MRI. She tells the team that she does not feel
good and starts gagging/choking. She cannot breathe. Cameron orders them to
get her out of the MRI. Cameron, Chase and Foreman try to get her breathing
again. Chase tells Cameron that it was a good call.
House pops another pill outside Rebecca’s room while the team checks on
her. They meet House outside her room, and he wants them to get a complete
history.
House checks in at the clinic. He wants to watch TV, but Dr. Cuddy has an
interesting first patient. He is orange. The patient is sitting in the exam
room, explaining how he hurt his back playing golf, and he notices House
take another vicodin. House tells him that his wife is having an affair,
since he is orange and his wife has not noticed. He eats too many carrots,
and the chemical in them has turned him orange. House tells him, “Stop
eating them and get a good lawyer,” and then he walks out. The next clinic
patient is a child, who is not using his inhaler with his asthma because the
mother is worried about the steroids. House explains to the mother
(sarcastically) why he needs to use his inhaler. He realizes as he talks to
her that Rebecca’s problem might be related to steroids.
House pages his team to meet outside Rebecca’s room and tells them to
give her high doses of prednisone. Rebecca gets a glimpse of House. The team
tries to argue with House’s theory. He has no proof of vasculitis but wants
to treat her for it anyway, and if she gets better, he is right. Rebecca
asks if she has a tumor, but the team avoids giving her the answer.
Dr. Foreman goes to Rebecca’s classroom to check out her work
environment. He tells one of the kids that he is smelling for mold. He goes
back to talk to House at the hospital cafeteria. Foreman tells him about
the parrot in the classroom and how that could be making Rebecca sick. House
tells him that any one of the kids could have got her sick. He tells Foreman
to go check out her apartment. Foreman says he will get Rebecca’s key, but
House tells him to break in. He also tells him to check out the woman who
made Foreman’s sandwich. House points out that she looks sick and asks if he
should trust that she is not sick. House informs him that he knows Foreman
has a record for breaking and entering when he was 16. He hired him because
he needed someone on his team with street smarts. Foreman finishes his
sandwich.
Dr. Cuddy confronts House in the clinic and asks him why he is giving
Rebecca steroids. She tells him, “You don’t treat people on guesses.” They
argue about the proper way to treat her. She asks House why he always thinks
he is right. She tells him that they are doctors, and when they make a
mistake, people die. Cuddy stops in to see Rebecca, so Rebecca asks her if
she is Dr. House. Cuddy replies that she is not. Rebecca seems better, so
Cuddy tells House that he got lucky.
Wilson is checking up on Rebecca. She asks if she will ever meet House,
but he tells her that she probably won’t. He says that House is a good
doctor but not a real people person. She asks Wilson if House is his friend
and whether he cares about him. Rebecca suddenly tells Wilson that she
cannot see and starts convulsing.
Foreman tells Rebecca they had to shock her back to life. He asks her to
arrange some cards to tell a story, and she cannot do it The team meets with
House and tells him that she is getting worse. No matter what the problem
is, they conclude, she is running out of time. House says to stop all
treatment. He tells them they will watch to see how the disease progresses,
and that will help them determine what is wrong. Foreman tells Cameron that
he needs her help breaking into Rebecca’s apartment to check it out. He says
that it’s always better when breaking into someone’s home to have a white
person with you.
House is now back at the clinic and listening to another patient describe
his symptoms. He tells House he has chronic fatigue syndrome. House tells
the patient that he obviously has time to research his problem on the Web.
House tells the patient that there is something he can give him. House goes
to the pharmacy and asks for a dollar in change and 20 vicodin. He then goes
to the candy machine and gets some candy, picks up the vicodin and puts the
candy in the medicine bottle, and the vicodin in his pocket. House tells the
nurse to bring the “meds” into exam room two.
Cameron and Foreman are at Rebecca’s apartment. Cameron is explaining to
Foreman how House thinks life is too short and just says what he thinks.
They are searching the apartment, and Foreman finds fleas. They argue about
Foreman’s criminal record and how Cameron made it to 17 without a criminal
record. They argue about the reasons that House hired them both. Cameron now
starts to wonder why House hired her.
They go back to the hospital and explain that they did not find anything
there to explain her symptoms. House tells them that Wilson said Rebecca
was his cousin, but obviously he is lying as he gets her name wrong, and
Rebecca has ham in her refrigerator, which she wouldn’t if she were Jewish.
Wilson counters that not all Jews keep kosher. House tells Foreman he is an
idiot, because if he found ham, which is pork, she probably has a tapeworm
in her. He explains to everyone what happens when you give steroids to a
person with a tapeworm, that they initially get better, then get worse just
like Rebecca did. This diagnosis explains all her symptoms. Wilson says that
it still be a hundred others things, but House insists that his theory fits.
However, Wilson informs all of them that Rebecca has decided not to have any
more treatment. She wants to go home and die there and not in the hospital.
Now House finally goes to see Rebecca. She is sitting in her room in the
dark. House asks the nurse for some privacy. He introduces himself to
Rebecca, and she says that it is good to finally meet him. He tells her she
is being an idiot, that she has a tapeworm in her brain, and if they do not
treat it, she will be dead by the weekend. She asks him if he has actually
seen the tapeworm. He tells her when she is all better, he will show her his
diplomas. Rebecca tells House that they have misdiagnosed her so far, so how
are they so certain they are right now? He tells her it is not a treatment
but a cure. She asks House what made him a cripple. He tells her how he had
an infarction. He was misdiagnosed, and because of the delay in treatment,
he suffered muscle death. She asks House if he thought he was going to die,
and he tells her he hoped he was going to die. Rebecca tells House that he
hides from people because he does not want others to see him as a cripple.
He feels cheated by life and why does he think that she is so much better
than him. He tells her there is no dignity in dying. He says you can live
with dignity but you can not die with it. He then informs the team that she
has refused treatment and he accepts her decision. The team questions him
and what they can do and he says it is over. Wilson explains to everyone
that House now respects her that she is not just a file to him any more. He
has done his job, figured out what is wrong and if she does not want to be
cured then he can not do anything more. He can not give people guarantees.
Dr. Chase speaks up and informs them there is a way to prove to Rebecca
there is a worm without doing an invasive test. They can do just a regular
x-ray. House says to x-ray her leg, and that worms love thigh muscles. He
guarantees that they will find a worm in her leg on the x-ray. They go take
Rebecca for the x-ray. Later Chase shows Rebecca the x-ray with the worm in
her leg and gives her medicine to take every day for a month and she will be
fine.
House goes back to his office and Dr. Cameron is sitting in his chair.
She asks House why did he hire her? House says does it matter? Does it make
a difference what he thinks. She brings up why he hired Foreman and he hired
Chase because his Dad wrote a big check to the hospital. He hired her
because she looks good, like having a nice piece of work in the lobby. She
is angry that it was her looks and not her hard work that got her the job
and House is amused that she is so upset. He tells her that pretty women can
take the easy way, and that she did not. She worked her ass off. That is why
he hired her. He tells her she must be damaged.
The orange patient is meeting with Dr. Cuddy upset about what House told
him. She tells him that she can not fire House because she is the best
doctor they have.
Chase goes to see Rebecca and surprises her with a visit from her
students. She is excited to see them. Rebecca tells Cameron she wanted to
thank House but he never came back. Cameron explains that he cured her but
she did not cure him.
House and Wilson are watching TV in an exam room and House questions
Wilson why he would lie about Rebecca being his cousin and lie to him. House
tells him he never lies. A nurse knocks on the door and tells House he has a
patient. House sees it is the Chronic Fatigue patient he gave the candy
“medicine” to and that he wants a refill. He asks Wilson if he has change of
a dollar.
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